Clifford Chance Names College of Law as Preferred Provider of Professional Legal Training

24 November 2008

Clifford Chance, one of the world's leading law firms, has named the College of Law as sole provider of a comprehensive range of pre- and post-qualification courses over a period of up to five years.

It is the first time in the UK that a law firm has entered into an agreement with a legal training provider for such a wide spectrum of training programmes and for such a long duration.

The College will deliver the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), Professional Skills Course (PSC) and the Trainee Litigation Programme (TLP) to the firm’s trainees. It will also be the exclusive provider of the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (QLTT) to qualify the firm’s overseas lawyers for practice in England and Wales.

It will continue to run Clifford Chance’s tailored firm-specific Legal Practice Course (LPC), which began in September 2006, at the College’s London Moorgate centre. The course is designed in consultation with the firm’s partners and provides students with knowledge and skills that tie in with the firm’s own specialisms.

Tony King, Head of HR Development at Clifford Chance LLP, said: "Clifford Chance is committed to recruiting and developing the best people. We believe that, by partnering with the College of Law, we can ensure our people will receive the high quality training which will prepare them for handling challenging client work and providing the best
service to our clients."

Sarah Hutchinson, Director of Business Development of The College of Law, said: “This exciting development is a clear indication that the tailored LPC has been a great success for Clifford Chance, helping to smooth the transition from the classroom to the workplace for their trainees.

“They were keen to build on this by appointing the College as sole provider for all stages of training. This arrangement delivers value for money as it ensures consistency in the quality and content of training, ruling out any overlaps between different courses. It also helps with embedding the culture and values of Clifford Chance in the early years of development of their trainees.”

Around 120 Clifford Chance trainees undertake the LPC and PSC each year with around 50 trainees beginning the GDL. The College of Law will take up its role as sole provider of the PSC, TLP and QLTT immediately, while the GDL agreement will start from September 2009. Trainees will be able to study the GDL at any of the College’s seven centres around the country.